The Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins were honored by President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday, a visit team captain Sidney Crosby and other players said was not about politics.

The NHL’s Penguins were the third championship team to visit Trump after the NFL’s New England Patriots and Major League Baseball’s Chicago Cubs. Trump disinvited the NBA champion Golden State Warriors, who also said they didn’t want to go.

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Trump welcomed the Penguins into the Oval Office on Tuesday. He celebrated their second consecutive championship in the East Room of the White House and singled out the achievements of playoff MVP Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel, among others.

He joked that Penguins co-owner Ron Burkle should help him renegotiate NAFTA but avoided any talk about other sports. The Penguins are the fourth championship team and third pro team to visit Trump at the White House after the NFL’s New England Patriots, Major League Baseball’s Chicago Cubs and college football’s Clemson Tigers.

Crosby, coach Mike Sullivan and other members of the Penguins said the visit had nothing to do with politics. The team said it respected the tradition of visiting the White House.

Sullivan said after the ceremony that he wouldn’t mind if one of his players took a knee during the national anthem.

Tampa Bay Lightning forward J.T. Brown, one of 18 black players in the NHL, became the first hockey player to engage in an anthem protest when he raised his fist while standing on the bench before a game Saturday night.

Trump has called on NFL owners to fire players who don’t stand for the anthem and urged fans to boycott games in a series of tweets. He tweeted that he instructed Vice President Mike Pence to leave a game between the San Francisco 49ers and Indianapolis Colts on Sunday if there were any anthem protests, which Pence did. Hours before the Penguins visit, Trump tweeted that tax law should be changed to punish the NFL over the anthem protests.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman told The Associated Press recently that said he respects players’ views on political and social issues and “people are going to have to decide what makes them comfortable.” Bettman said social issues “are a matter of individual belief and individual choice.”